Phalaborwa - Kruger National Park

It was only a short flight on that little plane from Jo'burg to Phalaborwa.  I think there might have been 24 seats on the plane, and we had to put carry ons with our luggage since there were no overhead bins.  Even though it was less than an hour in the air, we got snack and beverage service.  I chose tomato-flavored potato chips for my snack.  It was like eating crunchy ketchup, but really not that bad.

Isn't this the cutest airport ever?

We were met at the airport by our new guide, Heinrich, and driven the short distance to Sefapane Lodge near the gate to Kruger National Park.  Crystal was my roommate for this stay, and we got to stay in the Hippo rondavel.  It was wonderful!

 

Those are fresh flowers on our beds.

The plan was to do a little stargazing before dinner, but it was cold, and not too many people were that interested, so it didn't last long.  It was very exciting, however, to identify the Southern Cross for the first time!  I tried to take a photo worth sharing, but all mine turned out pretty dark, so I found this one online.

One of the few constellations I remember from college astronomy is Orion.  It was visible as well, but upside down from what it looks like at home.

Everybody had been really looking forward to this part of the trip.  Kruger National Park is THE place to go for wildlife.  Phalaborwa is in Limpopo Province, is the only town that borders Kruger, and is known as the true gateway to the park.  You pretty much enter right in the middle of the park.  Phalaborwa means "better than the South" (named after Sotho tribes that migrated north).  We were all sooooo excited about our game drive the next morning that nobody complained about the early hour or the cold...much.  We started at 5:30 with breakfast and blankets to go. 

The first animal sighting for me was this white bunny just after we entered the gate.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but it made me happy anyway.  It moved really fast right as I took the picture, thus the white blur.

African Sunrise.  I think I might frame this one.

We spent all day Monday and much of Tuesday morning on game drives, and saw lots of animals.  I easily took 1,000 photos just in that time, but here are some of the highlights.

We stopped to have lunch at Letaba Rest Camp.  There are a number of animals at the watering holes in the background, but they are hard to see.

We had some time to visit the displays in Letaba Elephant Hall. 

A weaver's nest.

Impala are easily identifiable by the "M" on the backside.

We stopped each morning to have our breakfast packs at the Masorini Archeological Site.

Watering tanks for elephants.

Kudus.

You have to look carefully to see this monkey.  I'm not sure what kind it is.

Those bumps in the water are hippos.

Baby hyenas.

Cape buffalo.

Apparently, baboons don't like water.  We watched this troop sit on the side for quite a while before one brave baboon ventured across, and then a few more.  They went as fast as they could.....

 ....and leapt as high as they could to avoid the water.

 Sunset on Day 1 at Kruger.

 Our vehicle was stopped on the road by a couple of rangers who told us some lions had been spotted nearby with a fresh kill.  We came across several lionesses right at the side of the road. 

 Lionesses do the majority of the hunting. This buffalo was probably one of the herd we saw yesterday.

 Pumba?